I shall not attempt to give a detail of all the cases that have come under my observation, but shall select a few of the most striking, and such as will, I trust, be sufficient to convince the candid mind, that the facts I have stated are true.
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"The most curious circumstance attending this disease, is, that the matter taken from the pock of a Cow, and inserted into the skin of a human being, will produce a disease in that human being, which w…"
"I have always been an advocate for public health, and I have always endeavoured to promote it."
"You see by the papers how I'm annoyed by a set of blockheads who write about the imperfection of the cowpox, as a vaccine, without any knowledge scarcely of its phenomena."
"It seems to be the determination of some of the jealous members of the ****** (R. *** Soc. y), not to suffer the Institution to sink, but on the / Other hand to master up a force, & support it with al…"
"It is a great satisfaction to me to reflect, that I have been instrumental in saving so many lives."
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The speaker chooses not to catalog every case he witnessed, but presents a carefully selected set of the most compelling examples. Quality of evidence matters more than volume — a few well-chosen, clearly stated facts are sufficient to establish truth for any fair-minded reader. It's an assertion that honest, targeted evidence speaks for itself without requiring exhaustive enumeration to be credible or persuasive.
Jenner spent years in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, observing that milkmaids exposed to cowpox rarely contracted smallpox. His 1798 paper 'An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae' compiled select case studies rather than exhaustive records. Facing fierce medical skepticism, his appeal to 'candid minds' reflects a patient, evidence-driven temperament — he trusted careful observation over authority, knowing extraordinary claims required compelling, not merely voluminous, documentation.
In 1790s Britain, experimental medicine lacked formal standards — no peer review, clinical trials, or germ theory existed. The dominant inoculation practice was variolation: deliberately infecting patients with live smallpox, carrying real mortality risk. Religious and medical establishments fiercely resisted Jenner's claims. Demonstrating cowpox as a safer alternative required persuading skeptical physicians trained in tradition rather than experiment, making his careful, case-based argumentation strategically essential for acceptance.
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